Currently, to achieve light-weight and ultra-thin display products, a gate driver on array (GOA) technology is often used to design the scan driver circuit for display panels. The GOA technology integrates the gate switch circuit on an array substrate to form a progressive scan driver for the display panels. The GOA technology would be used to replace the conventional design using individual gate drivers in integrated circuits (ICs).
FIG. 1 illustrates an existing gate driver circuit. As shown in FIG. 1, amorphous silicon gate driver circuit (a-Si shift region, ASG) 100 is usually disposed at one side or both sides of the display region 101 of the array substrate. Thus, a relatively large portion of the edge region of the display panel is occupied. However, the current mainstream design of display products requires minimizing the edge region.
FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic layout of various elements of a gate driver circuit 1000 on a substrate. In general, the gate driver circuit 1000 includes a-Si shift register (ASG) bus lines 111, an ASG capacitor 112, and ASG TFT devices 113, etc. In a prior art design, the ASG capacitor 112 includes a two electrode plates. A gate metal layer 112b and a source and drain metal layer 112a are usually used as the two electrode plates of the ASG capacitor 112. However, because the gate metal layer 112b and/or the source and drain metal layer 112a are typically made of opaque material, the opaque ASG capacitor 112 would affect the transmittance of the edge region of the display panel. When an ultraviolet light is used to cure the frame sealant on the edge region of the display panel during a packaging process, because the ASG capacitor region is opaque, the frame sealant is often not entirely cured.
Further, the devices of the gate driver circuit (ASG) are usually disposed in the non-display region of the array substrate, and a relatively large space is occupied. Therefore, it is more difficult to achieve a narrow edge design, or an edgeless design for display products.
The disclosed methods and systems are directed to solve one or more problems set forth above and other problems.